bone retard no more

it so happens that the ceiling directly of my desk is slanted because of, you know, the roof of our house. i'm going to get these here posters from here and put them there. they are excellent references and i am excited about their arrival. so much information! (click 'em to enlarge! do it!)

i will glance upwards and there they will be. many of my questions (oh, i always have questions) will be answered in a flash.

the most interesting report i typed today was an epiphysiodesis. the epiphysis is the rounded end of a long bone, such as a femur. it's also called the growth plate. and the suffix -desis means to bind or tie together. the patient was a 10-year-old (give or take) boy and one of his legs was 3.5 cm shorter than the other one! who knew these things happened? i suppose my life has been rather sheltered, medically speaking and otherwise.

so the surgery involved a fusion of the epiphysis on this boy's femur, to retard the growth of the bone. it was done on his longer leg, i suppose so the other leg would have the opportunity to catch up. it sounded pretty gritty. and i think the little feller's going to be okay.